In this article, we will discuss how to fix the issue of “Roundcube database error connection failed” in Webmail cPanel. Bobcares, as a part of our Server management support services offers solutions to all queries, no matter how small.

RoundCube is one of the free IMAP clients which is easy to install and configure. It’s a desktop-like interface and all its data will store in a database.

“Database Error Connection Failed” in RoundCube Webmail

When RoundCube webmail tries to connect to the database, we might get an error message similar to “database error connection failed, unable to connect to the database Please contact your server administrator” in the cPanel server.

Before proceeding further, check the status of your server. Make sure that the database is active and running.

1. One of our recommended ways to fix this issue is to restore a previous version of the mailbox database.

Follow the below steps to restore a previous version of the database.

• In the folder ‘/home/<cpanel_user>/etc/<domain>/’. Rename the file <email_user>.rcube.db to <email_user>.rcube.db.bak or move it out of the folder.

• Rename <email_user>.rcube.db.<number_stamp> (use the most recent copy first based on timestamp) to <email_user>.rcube.db.

• Now try to access RoundCube again.

2. You can start RoundCube without restoring any of the previous settings.

Follow the below steps to get this fix done.>/p>

• Rename the file <email_user>.rcube.db to <email_user>.rcube.db.bak or move it out of the folder.

• Now attempt to access RoundCube again.

Check MySQL connection :

Check MySQL database status using the below command :

service mysqld status

If the status not running, then try to restart the MySQL service. You can also check why the service is not running from MySQL logs.

Repair/ Restore the Database :

Check if the Roundcube database is accessible, from the below show command:

mysql -u roundcube -p
mysql> show databases;

Next, check the tables in the Roundcube database:

mysql > show tables;

If you find all the tables are present, then repair the Roundcube database as below. For safety purposes, it’s recommended to take backups for the database.

mysqlcheck -r roundcube

The Roundcube can be rebuilt from the command line using the below command. This can be done if the database or table is missing, and will rebuild the Roundcube database.

/usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube --force

You can restore the Roundcube database if you have the latest database backup available for Roundcube.

mysql roundcube < roundcube.sql

Remove the existing Roundcube database after the restoration of the database is completed from the latest backup.

You can then drop the existing database using the command:

mysql > drop database roundcube_old;

Convert To SQLite Database type :

If you get issues only with MySQL database, then try to switch the Roundcube database to SQLite. Roundcube only supports SQLite As of Cpanel 11.4.x.

Pros for using SQLite for Roundcube :

• Faster than MySQL.

• SQLite databases are stored in user accounts and so it considers the user’s disk space usage.

• An easy method to restore Roundcube data from the backups on a per-user basis.
• Easier to identify problematic Webmail users.

Cpanel provides scripts to switch Roundcube to use the SQLite database type. Take a backup of the current database prior to the conversion to the SQLite database.

/scripts/convert_roundcube_mysql2sqlite

To convert Roundcube for a specific user use the below command.

/scripts/convert_roundcube_mysql2sqlite <user>

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Conclusion

To sum up, we have discussed ways to fix the issue of “Database error connection failed” in RoundCube Webmail cPanel. Looked into Convert To SQLite Database type.